slug

== English == === Pronunciation === enPR: slŭg (Received Pronunciation, Southern England, General American) IPA(key): /slʌɡ/ (Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /slɐɡ/ (Northern England) IPA(key): /slʊɡ/ Rhymes: -ʌɡ === Etymology 1 === Originally referred to a slow, lazy person, from Middle English slugge (“lazy person", also "sloth, slothfulness”), probably of either Old English or Old Norse origin; perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sliǵ-ōn, from *sley- (“smooth; slick; sticky; slimy”) or otherwise from the root of Old Norse slókr (“lazy person, oaf”), whence Icelandic slókur (“laziness”). Compare Norn slug (“lazy, slothful, sluggish”), dialectal Norwegian slugg (“a large, heavy body”), sluggje (“heavy, slow person”), Danish slog (“rascal, rogue”). Compare also Dutch slak (“snail, slug”). Doublet of slotch. The sense of a hitchhiking commuter is from the sense of a counterfeit bus token. Bus operators considered sluggers to be cheating as if they were using counterfeit tokens. ==== Noun ==== slug (plural slugs) Any of many gastropod mollusks, having no (or only a rudimentary) shell. [from early 18th c.] (obsolete) A slow, lazy person; a sluggard. [from early 15th c.] A bullet or other projectile fired from a firearm; in modern usage, generally refers to a shotgun slug. [from 1620s] A solid block or piece of roughly shaped metal. A counterfeit coin, especially one used to steal from vending machines. [from 1880s] A shot of a drink, usually alcoholic. [from 1750s] (journalism) A title, name or header, a catchline, a short phrase or title to indicate the content of a newspaper or magazine story for editing use. [from 1920s] (physics, rare) The imperial (English) unit of mass that accelerates by 1 foot per second squared (1 ft/s²) when a force of one pound-force (lbf) is exerted on it. Synonym: geepound A discrete mass of a material that moves as a unit, usually through another material. A motile pseudoplasmodium formed by amoebae working together. (rail transport) An accessory to a diesel-electric locomotive, used to increase adhesive weight and allow full power to be applied at a lower speed. It has trucks with traction motors, but lacks a prime mover, being powered by electricity from the mother locomotive, and may or may not have a control cab. (television editing) A black screen used to separate broadcast items. (letterpress typography) A piece of type metal imprinted by a linotype machine; also a black mark placed in the margin to indicate an error; also said in application to typewriters; type slug. (regional) A stranger picked up as a passenger to enable legal use of high occupancy vehicle lanes. (US, slang, District of Columbia) A hitchhiking commuter. (web development, SEO) The last part of a clean URL, the displayed resource name, similar to a filename. (obsolete) A hindrance, an obstruction. A ship that sails slowly. (screenwriting) A block of text at the beginning of a scene that sets up the scene's location, characters, etc. (herpetology) An infertile egg of a reptile. ===== Synonyms ===== (small amount of liquor): see nip & Thesaurus:drink ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== lug sluggard ===== Translations ===== ===== See also ===== (gastropod, locomotive): snail ==== Verb ==== slug (third-person singular simple present slugs, present participle slugging, simple past and past participle slugged) To drink quickly; to gulp; to down. To take part in casual carpooling; to form ad hoc, informal carpools for commuting, essentially a variation of ride-share commuting and hitchhiking. (intransitive, of a bullet) To become reduced in diameter, or changed in shape, by passing from a larger to a smaller part of the bore of the barrel. (obsolete, intransitive) To move slowly or sluggishly; to lie idle. (transitive) To load with a slug or slugs. To make sluggish. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== References ==== === Etymology 2 === Uncertain. Perhaps somehow from Proto-Germanic *slagiz (“a blow, strike”). If so, then cognate with slay and slaughter; also German Schlag (“blow, hit”) and Dutch slag (“blow, strike”). Also compare slog. ==== Noun ==== slug (plural slugs) A hard blow, usually with the fist. [from 1830s] ==== Verb ==== slug (third-person singular simple present slugs, present participle slugging, simple past and past participle slugged) (transitive) To hit very hard, usually with the fist. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== References ==== Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “slug”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. === Anagrams === LUGs, lugs, guls, Guls, güls == Manx == === Etymology === From Old Irish sluicid (“to swallow”). Cognate with Irish slog. === Verb === slug (verbal noun sluggey, past participle sluggit) to swallow, swig, slug, guzzle, draw to devour, gorge, gulp to engulf === Noun === slug m (genitive singular slug, plural sluggyn) swallow, swig, draught ==== Derived terms ==== sluggag === Mutation === == Swedish == === Etymology === Borrowed from Middle Low German slû, probably from a Proto-Germanic *slūhaz (“sneaking, creeping”), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leuǵ (“to crawl, slide”), if the original sense referred to sneaking and sliding. Cognate of German schlau, Dutch sluw, Norwegian slu. === Pronunciation === Rhymes: -ʉːɡ === Adjective === slug sly, cunning ==== Usage notes ==== The difference between listig and slug is similar to the difference between cunning and sly, where slug sounds more deceitful by default. ==== Declension ==== ==== Derived terms ==== bakslug knipslug slughet småslug ==== See also ==== listig === References === === Further reading === “slug”, in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker [Dictionaries of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish) slug in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922) == Yola == === Etymology === Borrowed from Irish slog (“to swallow”), from Old Irish sluicid, from Proto-Celtic *slunketi. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /slʊɡ/ === Verb === slug to eat greedily ==== Derived terms ==== slougherdhès === References === Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 68